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Defense Authorization Act Appropriations

Below are funding requests to the Defense Authorization Appropriations Act in FY11. Funding for these projects has not been secured.(listed in alphabetical order, by recipient):

Commonwealth of Kentucky (on behalf of the universities of Kentucky and Louisville):

12th Capital Plaza Tower Frankfort, KY 40601

$5,000,000 - Advanced Battery Manufacturing Research and Development

In overseas combat operations, the Department of Defense continues to rely heavily on foreign oil for the operation of combat vehicles. Procuring gasoline is expensive and difficult to protect. To remedy this problem, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, on behalf of the Universities of Kentucky and Louisville, proposes to establish a Battery Manufacturing R&D Center which will produce technology that will ultimately allow DOD to instead rely upon American-made batteries for combat operations. The center will focus on the development and integration of manufacturing technology for energy storage applications. The overarching objective of this proposed project is to define and quantify optimal scalable manufacturing processes and operating conditions that will enable the translation of novel battery and ultracapacitor materials discoveries into technology to support cost-effective electrification of the transportation sector. A critical issue that must be addressed is the scalability and manufacturability of these novel materials and processes to support large-volume domestic manufacturing. To these ends, the universities will expand existing and establish new capabilities in the area of battery/capacitor manufacturing R&D, including improvements in facilities and development of human capital. The Universities will partner with Argonne National Laboratory and draw upon its current leadership position in battery research, a broad-based, basic and applied research, development, and engineering program centered on advanced battery and energy storage materials and systems for both mobile and stationary applications, combining talents to provide a synergistic capability spanning basic battery material research to deployed technologies and manufacturing processes and tools.

Electrification of the nation’s light vehicle fleet has great potential for reducing oil imports and significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector. Advanced batteries are the critical component to enabling this transformation. While the U.S. still maintains leadership in advanced battery technology, nearly all high volume, advanced battery manufacturers are located in Asia. As a result, the U.S. has limited battery manufacturing capability and a limited supply of trained battery engineers, scientists, and line workers. Unaddressed, this situation will lead to eventual decline in U.S. leadership in advanced battery technology.

Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's Foundation

200 Abraham Flexner Way, Louisville, KY 40202

$5,000,000 - Composite Tissue Allotransplantation

The overall goal of this research is to move Composite Tissue Allotransplantation (CTA) from a promising experimental procedure to routinely applied standard-of-care treatment for catastrophic injury and loss of tissue. Because of previous federal appropriations, we have established Louisville as the preeminent center for hand transplantation in the United States, and have the world’s first successful hand transplant and the world’s longest experience in caring for hand transplant recipients. The functional and cosmetic results of CTA have far exceeded early expectations, and now more than 50 hands and eight faces have been transplanted worldwide.

Members of the U.S. military are suffering numerous limb injuries in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Currently, amputation and prosthetic devices are the only standard of care options for the returning war fighters. If this research is proven and becomes a standard of care, transplantation, particularly for upper extremities, will become an option.

National Foundation to Support Cell Transplant Research

333 East Main St, Louisville, KY 40202

$5,000,000 - Tolerance for Transplanted Organs and Tissue

The goal of this proposal is to support and care for those injured soldiers who have suffered from massive tissue or limb loss and allow their safe return to active duty. These funds will support clinical trials and basic research in the development of a platform approach to safely induce tolerance for transplanted organs and tissue. Tolerance, the ability of a transplant recipient’s immune system to recognize transplanted tissue as self, rather than foreign, dramatically reduces or eliminates entirely the need for expensive lifelong anti-rejection medications and their debilitating side effects. The ability to transplant large areas of tissue - without the toxic anti-rejection drugs required to prevent rejection - would benefit thousands of people who have suffered burns or massive tissue loss, including limb loss. The approach for which funds are requested uses a modified bone marrow transplant enhanced by the presence of graft facilitating cells (FC), a unique set of cells discovered by principal investigator Dr. Suzanne Ildstad. The Department of Defense identifies tolerance as a critical research priority and has singled out Dr. Ildstad and the Institute for Cellular Therapeutics as a model funding project.

While only 1 in 10 injured soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have died, 6 percent of those wounded have required amputations, twice as many as those seen in previous wars. In addition to lost limbs, many soldiers have massive head and neck injuries with severe disfiguration as the result of explosive devices. The research and clinical applications resulting from this body of research are directly applicable to, and support, our nation’s responsibility for the care and support of injured soldiers in the United States military and allow many to return to active duty. Not only will this work impact American soldiers, it will directly benefit those citizens suffering from diseases that would most certainly benefit from tolerance induction for modified bone marrow. Among the more than 60 autoimmune disorders suffered by Americans nationwide, over 2.1 million suffer from diabetes and over 400,000 are afflicted with multiple sclerosis. Among the inherited red blood cell disorders, nearly 100,000 American children live with the debilitating effects of sickle cell disease alone.

The overall goal of this project is to understand the mechanism by which exposure to air pollutants affects cardiovascular health. Our working hypothesis is that exposure to toxic air pollutants establishes a state of low-grade inflammation that prevents wound-healing and vascular regeneration by decreasing the mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and/or their reparative potential. The results of this study will be particularly relevant to military personnel who are wounded and simultaneously exposed to high levels of air toxics.

Every year, almost 1 million Americans die of heart disease – the single biggest killer in this country. There are ~1.3 million new heart attacks and ~600,000 new cases of heart failure each year in America. The prognosis of heart failure remains dismal, with only 50% of patients with advanced disease surviving at 1 year. The results of this study will be of significance to DOD since air toxics such as acrolein, butadiene, and formaldehyde are common products of combustion and achieve very high (lethal) concentrations near natural and man-made fires, particularly in enclosed areas and buildings. The University of Louisville is a leader in the study of toxic pollution on cardiovascular function.

Operating under the CELDi umbrella, the RFID Tech Center will focus on the development of next generation models and algorithms to design operate and manage the logistical system efficiently and effectively using the continuously generated data in direct response to new, constantly changing information that is being supplied by the two technologies. Organizations can use the RFID and GPS technologies and the underlying models and decision support systems to develop effective and efficient supply chains that transfer products seamlessly and smoothly over the entire distribution network, even in the face of fast changing information, and disturbances caused by forces internal or external to the system (e.g., hurricane-related disruptions, instability in fuel supply, and disruptions due to hostile enemy activity).

In fiscal year 2005, the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) distributed almost $32 billion in goods and services worldwide. The DLA continually seeks to reduce costs and improve delivery times to its customers and field personnel. The University of Louisville, RFID Tech Center will focus on the development of next generation models and algorithms to design, operate and manage the logistical system efficiently and effectively.

The overall goal of this project is to develop new and innovative strategies to improve wound healing and promote tissue repair. The results of this research will enhance our understanding of wound healing and lead to the development of effective therapies for enhancing wound healing and tissue repair, particularly in combat personnel.

The health of the American people is a crucial concern of the federal government. This is even more pronounced in our active military personnel. If this work proves to be successful, it will provide a means to improve wound healing and tissue damage more efficiently leading to lower mortality rates among our battlefield soldiers.